geothermal development and research in iceland - Orkustofnun

4. Development
OF Utilization
As has previously been mentioned, geothermal sources account for just over half of
Icelanders’ primary energy needs. From the earliest times, geothermal energy has
been used for bathing and washing. Late in the 19th century, people began experiments
utilizing geothermal energy for outdoor gardening; and early in the 20th
century geothermal sources were first used to heat greenhouses. Around the same
time, people started using geothermal energy to heat swimming pools and buildings.
Today, space heating is the largest component in the direct use of geothermal
energy in Iceland. Figure 3 gives a breakdown of the utilization of geothermal energy
for 2005. These percentages are for energy utilized rather than primary energy. In
2005, direct use of geothermal energy, for example heating, totaled around 27,690
terajoules (TJ), which corresponds to 7,608 GWh. In addition, electricity production
amounted to 1,658 GWh. As Fig. 3 reveals, the 58% share of space heating was by far
the greatest, followed by electricity production, accounting for 18%.
After its culmination in the 1980s, Iceland’s
development of geothermal energy
for direct use was rather slow. Geothermal
space heating is, however, slowly increasing.
New industrial users that utilize geothermal
energy on a large scale have not
emerged, in spite of the high potential.
Iceland’s main geothermal development
over the last few years has been with hightemperature
geothermal exploration, and
drilling with the aim of producing electricity
for the further expansion of the country’s
aluminum industry.
Fig. 3.
Sectoral share of utilization
of geothermal energy in
Iceland in 2005
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